Category Archives: Programs

Programs, Resources

Citizen Science projects for you (and your patrons)!

Citizen Science Communities

I am really interested in science, in research, and in learning new things. I’m not a scientist. But all of this is just cool to see. With science funding being so restrictive (yeah: libraries and schools know all about that!), more scientists are reaching out to all of us to help contribute.

So, I’m not a scientist. And that’s kind of a bummer. But I can be a citizen scientist, and feel like I’m helping!

And, you guys? I am so there for all of this!

As libraries are all about gathering information, and sharing new ideas with people, we wanted to share these citizen science projects with you. Try them for yourself, or pass these along to your patrons! (How fun would it be to have a science project in your library where you and your students could really contribute to a science project? So fun!)

You can hear more about these projects on the Science Friday podcast.

There are some citizen science projects happening right here in Minnesota. Check out the Univ of MN Extension Office for more info!

Scout for bees

Bee Atlas is a citizen science volunteer program working to create a state-wide list of native bees found in Minnesota.

Become a Master Naturalist volunteer

Any adult who is curious and enjoys learning about the natural world can become a Master Naturalist.

Teach citizen science

The Driven to Discover program provides educators the tools and resources needed to help engage kids in the natural world using citizen science.

Track deer damage in woods

Assessing Vegetation Impacts from Deer (AVID) volunteers collect data to monitor the impacts of deer on vegetation in Minnesota woodlands.

Stream Selfie

What’s in YOUR water? We all have the right to know if the streams running through our backyards and neighborhood parks are safe. But there is an alarming lack of up-to-date information about water quality across the country. Stream Selfie is here to bridge that information gap.

Stream Selfie connects you with thousands of other citizen scientists to paint a picture of streams across America. Simply snap a pic of your local stream and share it here.

Your photo is step one in our effort to check the health of every stream in the country – far more streams than state and local agencies have the resources to check!

Thousands of people are working toward a common goal: clean water. Will you join us?

Never Home Alone: The Wild Life of Our Homes

This project aims to document the species that live indoors with humans, including but not exclusive to arthropods. In studying the arthropods (insects and their kin) in Raleigh, North Carolina we found more than one thousand species in homes. As we have studied homes in other cities, we have found even more species, some of them new to science, virtually all of them poorly studied. No one is ever really home alone. With this new iNaturalist project we now seek your help in recording the species in homes around the world. We suspect that in boldly studying basements, bedrooms and bathrooms that together we can make big new discoveries even before we open the front door.

Citizen Weather Observer Program

The Citizen Weather Observer Program (CWOP) is a public-private partnership with three goals: 1) to collect weather data contributed by citizens; 2) to make these data available for weather services and homeland security; and 3) to provide feedback to the data contributors so they have the tools to check and improve their data quality. In fact, the web address, wxqa.com, stands for weather quality assurance.

eBird

eBird is the world’s largest biodiversity-related citizen science project, with more than 100 million bird sightings contributed each year by eBirders around the world. A collaborative enterprise with hundreds of partner organizations, thousands of regional experts, and hundreds of thousands of users, eBird is managed by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

Globe at Night

Globe at Night is an international citizen-science campaign to raise public awareness of the impact of light pollution by inviting citizen-scientists to measure & submit their night sky brightness observations.

So far in 2019 citizen scientists from around the world have contributed 4,201 data points! Help us achieve our goal of 15,000 data points this year!

CMLE, Programs

May is approaching and so is our tea event!

Come see this pretty place in person!

We are looking forward to Sunday, May 5th and our CMLE Tea and Postcard Event at the Mad Hatter Tea House in Anoka!

As one of Minnesota’s multitype systems, we’re always working to connect our members with each other. Library life can be challenging and isolating; come have tea with other library people from the area and share your stories of success and/or struggles!

Thank you to everyone that has already RSVP’d, we can’t wait to see you! If you are still thinking about joining us (and we hope you do!) here are more details:

  • Our reservation is for the Queen of Hearts tea service at 10:30am on Sunday, May 5th.
  • We will be covering the cost of the tea service for members that RSVP in advance!
  • We will also be providing postcards for members to sign that CMLE will mail to library stakeholders across our system. Spreading the word about the value of libraries (particularly school libraries!) is something we always strive for at CMLE.
  • This is our second time having a member tea event at the Mad Hatter. Read about our first event here.

Since our members work in school media centers, history centers, archives, public, and academic libraries, we really appreciate hearing about the variety of tasks and challenges you handle every day. Plus, we love when our members get to meet each other and form connections across different types of libraries! 

Please RSVP below, as we need to make reservations! 

Programs

Why Doctors and Librarians Make Great Partners

US Navy 060613-N-3532C-034 Air Force Maj. Valerie Clegg, a pediatrician with the Medical Treatment Facility aboard the U.S. Military Sealift Command (MSC) Hospital Ship USNS Mercy (T-AH 19), examines a young girl

Libraries are excellent members of their community – we all know that. And we are also great at partnering with other organizations, departments, or groups to provide better service to everyone.

One great tool we have is partnering with doctors to provide books and reading inspiration to everyone! This is the 30th anniversary of the Reach Out and Read program – and it’s such an inspiration to everyone!

Is your library involved in this program? Is there anything CMLE can do to help you work through some ideas to launch it in your community? We would love to help! You can read the info from the Reach Out And Read material on starting a new program here. “The Reach Out and Read model is designed to be implemented by medical professionals who provide primary care to children, ages 6 months through 5 years, as part of the well-child checkup. Both pediatric practices and family practices that see children may participate Reach Out and Read. ”

CMLE can help you to connect with medical professionals in your community, if that is an interest of yours. More reading, more books, more literacy – it’s good for everyone!

Check out the excerpt from the article below; and click on the link to read the whole thing.

“Raising a community of readers is a fundamental objective of public libraries. Libraries make it their primary business to build readers, with story times, readers advisory, thoughtfully developed collections, and more. But libraries don’t do all the heavy lifting on their own. They get plenty of help from their communities—even at the doctor’s office.

This year marks the 30th anniversary of Reach Out and Read, an organization that helps transform doctors and health care professionals into partners in literacy. Since its launch at Boston Medical Center in 1989, under the leadership of Robert Needlman and Barry Zuckerman, Reach Out and Read has been giving young children a foundation for success by donating books to pediatric care providers, reading aloud to kids in waiting rooms, and teaching families about the benefits of reading together at home.

To this day, the program’s inspiration remains a powerful memory for Needlman: he was standing in the inpatient ward when, at the end of the hallway, he noticed a mother reading to her child. “The mom became so excited,” he says, recalling how the child’s reaction to the words the mom read appeared to give her an “incredible charge of energy.”

Such experiences have kept Needlman motivated and involved with Reach Out and Read, which, 30 years after its launch, counts more than 6,000 partners in all 50 states. “There are more and more doctors who get it and use it,” Needlman says, adding that the program has become a popular way for new doctors to forge relationships with families during child wellness visits.

I’m fortunate that Needlman lives and works in the Cleveland area. When I moved to Cleveland in 1997 and discovered that he also had relocated there, it took me nearly a year to work up the courage to call him. But once we met, I quickly saw why children, doctors, and librarians so easily put their trust in the mission of Reach Out and Read.

Programs

Join us in June for Summer Library Bootcamp!

We can’t wait for summer! Besides the sunshine and lack of snow (finally!!) we are looking forward to our Summer Bootcamp Training Series!

And we want YOU to join us!!

Don’t worry about your job title or whether or not you are a CMLE member. If you work in a library, we’d love to have you!

Our goal as a library multitype system is to provide training and connection opportunities for our members. We’ll be covering several different library skills and sharing strategies and experiences to help you in your own library practice.

Classes will run from 11:00 to 1:00, and light lunch will be provided. Each class will be $10.

Certificates will be issued for two hours of PD or CE credit after each class.

Here are the classes being offered this summer. Sign up by following the links to Eventbrite:

CMLE members can apply for a scholarship to take the entire series of all five classes. Do not register through the links below; email us at admin@cmle.org, give your name, your library, and your job there, and confirm you will attend all five classes. We will process your scholarship application with that information and get back to you.

All classes will be held at CMLE Headquarters:
570 1st Street SE
St. Cloud, MN 54304

Email us with any questions at admin@cmle.org.

Advocacy, CMLE, Programs

RSVP for CMLE Tea!

Hi CMLE members! We hope you are thinking about joining us for our upcoming member event!

We’ll be having tea, library conversation, and filling out library advocacy postcards to mail to library stakeholders. We had the best time at our last tea event and you can read all about it here.

Join us on Sunday, May 5th at 10:30 at the Mad Hatter Tea House in Anoka.
Member events support our mission to connect people from all types of libraries with each other to offer encouragement, brainstorming, and community.


Please RSVP below, as we need to make reservations! And since we do not want cost to prohibit any of our members from joining us, CMLE will cover the cost of tea service for members that RSVP and attend.